Type Gallery – ITC Kendo

ITC Kendo™ is the work of British designer Phill Grimshaw, suggesting the dash and verve of quick, sketchy calligraphy, complete with splatters of ink. Grimshaw says he worked deliberately against his own habits to create the forms, drawing the letters “with slow deliberation” and a pointed pen. He overloaded the pen with ink and drew on rough paper, “applying a lot of pressure at the beginning of a stroke and easing off towards the terminals. Accidental splashes occurred frequently owing to the nib catching the ‘tooth’ of the paper.” Those splashes were refined into features which enhance but do not overwhelm the characters and carefully worked so as not to leave an obvious white strip of unsplattered space between lines and letters. The initial capitals can be used alone or combined with the lowercase alphabet, and the font includes a full set of f-ligatures and some extra ligatures as well as decorative elements.